New Delhi, June 24 (ANI): External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said that he and the visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry are delighted to be developing an increasingly global dimension to the India-US strategic partnership.

"Today, we are expanding our bilateral cooperation to new horizons, such as energy, while intensifying existing avenues of cooperation in health, science and technology, education, space, defence and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy," said Khurshid at the joint press conference following the fourth India-US strategic dialogue.

" At the same time, we are very satisfied with the ongoing pace of our political dialogues, which have enabled us to intensify bilateral consultations on key issues in our region and beyond, including in the larger Asian context. We are delighted to be developing an increasingly global dimension to the India-US strategic partnership," he added.

The External Affairs Minister said 'at the conclusion of this fourth round of our Strategic Dialogue, we can take satisfaction in the fact that within the few years since we raised our relationship to a strategic footing, our bilateral dialogue is wide-ranging to the extent of taking on an all-of-Government character'.

"To put that in perspective, we have exchanged as many as 112 senior official and high-level visits in the year 2012. Exchanges in the current year continue to be equally intense and wide-ranging, with over 47 official visits already exchanged covering conversations ranging from Homeland Security to Education; from Space to Energy; and from our Trilateral dialogue with Japan to a Trilateral conversation with Afghanistan," he added.

Khurshid said a number of important visits and dialogue processes are scheduled over the next several months, including the Ministerial Energy Dialogue and the CEO's Forum, both of which are coordinated on our side by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

"n participating in special events celebrating our partnership in Green and Affordable Innovation, and in co-Chairing the Higher Education Dialogue with our Human Resource Development Minister, the Secretary has highlighted the significance of innovation and education as pillars of this strategic relationship," said Khurshid.

"I want to particularly thank him for this, as there has otherwise been too little said about these very vital aspects of our partnership which exercise an important impact on the lives of our people," he added.

Thanking the distinguished visitors for their presence here in India, Khurshid said: "We deeply appreciate their commitment to this partnership, and their substantive contributions during our dialogue. We hope to continue to build on the good work done so far, in expanding the horizons of the India-US relationship."

"May I say on a personal note that Secretary Kerry and I have struck with right chemistry," he added.

Khurshid said that he and the US Secretary of Stat just completed detailed discussions covering key strategic pillars of our relationship, namely: security, economics and technology; regional strategic and political issues; and global issues. Our discussions were truly characterized by convergence and candour.

"Secretary Kerry was positive in his assessment of our strategic partnership, and generous in his appraisal of the potential future of our relationship. It is a perspective my colleagues and I fully share," he said. (ANI)

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